Leo's Brain Drain
by SonicLover
Summary: First attempt to insert myself in a Totally Spies ep. Ever go on a game show, and have your mind go blank just as you're about to answer? If the game show in question is Brain Buster, the cause might not be stage fright! FINISHED
1. Welcome to Brain Buster!

Leo's Brain Drain

Author's note: For this fic, I'm following in Mat49324's footsteps by putting myself in a Totally Spies episode, as indicated by the "Leo's" tag. That's why I've been taping Totally Spies episodes. Oh, and remember that my name isn't really Leo.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Brain Buster! -

06:45 PM - BRAIN BUSTER SET  
The Brain Busters jingle played and the studio audience applauded as the host, Wink Weatherdale, took it all in.  
"Welcome back to Brain Busters!" Wink announced. "Okay, it's time for the Do or Die round."

In one of the contestant's booths, there was Margie, a waitress with a beehive hairdo. She was chewing bubble gum like she didn't have a care in the world. In the other booth, there was an important-looking professor.

"First answer correctly wins," Wink explained. "Okay, players, your question. Name the isotope whose nuclear fusion supplies energy for atomic explosions."  
The professor buzzed in. "Oh, yes, of course, that's easy. The answer obviously is the …" Something happened, but it wasn't apparent what. "… um … well, the answer is …"

BZZT!  
"Oh, time's up! Sorry, Professor! Margie?"  
Margie was happy to counter. "I'm guessing that'd be the Uranium 2-35."  
"CORRECT!" Wink exclaimed. "For the third week in a row, you're our grand prize winner!"  
Margie only smirked.

09:50 AM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL  
The bell rang. In one classroom, Sam and I were sitting next to each other.  
"Now," the teacher said, "who can name the four chronological eras of Earth?"

I didn't know this one, but Sam sure did. She raised her hand.  
"Sam?"  
"Okay. Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic."  
"Well, that's exactly right!"

A boy in the front row, Zach, gave Sam a thumbs up. Sam blushed. "Show-off," I muttered.

Later, in the school courtyard, Sam and I were talking with Zach.  
"How do you do it, Sam?" he asked. "I mean, when I try to memorize all that zoic stuff, all I get is a headache."  
"And all I get is disoriented," I added.

"I don't know," Sam replied. "I just read it, and then it's, like, stuck in my mind forever. Kind of dorky, huh?"  
I was unfazed. "Dorky as it is, I suppose if it works, it works."

"Dorky?" Zach interjected. "More like lucky. Hey, maybe we can grab some sushi tomorrow after school and you can give me a few pointers."  
"Sure," Sam replied. "Sounds great."  
"Count me out," I said. "I hate sushi."

At that moment, Clover's voice interrupted us. "Hurry up, Sam. You're going to be late for your date with fame and fortune." Alex was there too.  
"You're right," Sam countered. "It's Brain Buster time!"  
"Uh, actually, it's hair and makeup time," Clover explained. "No girlfriend of mine is going on TV before she's camera ready."

Sam gasped and blushed. I was lost. "Brain Buster time? Sam, what is this?"  
Alex was more than happy to explain: "Today's the day Sammy gets to be on a game show and win mega-bucks!"  
"Oh, now I remember. The champ, Margie, is supposed to be unstoppable. Ha! We'll show her."

"Gotta go," Sam assured Zach.

11:12 AM - BRAIN BUSTER SET  
All four of us showed up in the hall leading to the set. Nobody else was there.  
"Is it me," Clover asked, "or does the set look much bigger on TV?"  
"Everything looks bigger on TV," I reminded her.

A voice interrupted us. "That's the magic of hollywood, my dear." We turned and looked.  
We all recognized the man that stood before us. "WINK WEATHERDALE?"

We rushed up to Wink. Alex was the first to speak. "Speaking of magic, I can't believe how real you look in person, Wink!"  
I rolled my eyes as Wink responded. "Amazing, isn't it? But enough about me. I'm here to welcome Sam to the show! Ready to challenge Margie for lots of cash and prizes?"  
"Bring it on!"

A yell interrupted us. Margie herself threw someone out, then approached us. "Winky, is this how the returning champion's treated? This blouse is 85 genuine silk, for crying out loud!"  
"We'll take care of it right away, Margie," Wink responded. Then, he turned to us. "That's our cue, ladies, and gentleman."  
Margie wished Sam good luck. "Good luck, hon. You're gonna need it."  
They both left.

"She seems … nice," Alex commented.  
"Yeah," I added, "if by 'nice' you mean 'totally rude'."

Minutes later, the show was underway. Alex, Clover, and I were in the studio audience.  
"For 100 points," Wink asked, "this famous person is the reason we have sandwiches."  
"Wow," I whispered to Clover, "even I know this one, and I stink at trivia. Sam won't get this one wrong."

Sam buzzed in. "That would be …" Something happened. "… uh … would be …"  
BZZT! "Margie?"  
Margie answered right away. "That's gotta be the Earl of Sandwich."

"THE EARL OF SANDWICH IS CORRECT!" Margie got 100 points.  
Clover glanced at me. "Leo? What were you saying about Sam not getting that one wrong?"

This pattern repeated itself throughout the game show several more times than we would've liked. A question is asked. Sam buzzes in. Sam's about to answer. Something happens. Sam fails to answer. Margie answers by counter. Margie is correct. Margie gets points. And so on and so forth.  
-  
Yeah, this isn't good. Stay tuned! The next episode I do will be "Zooney World"! 


	2. Samnesia

Leo's Brain Drain

Author's note: I've changed my mind! The next episode I do will either be "Malled" or "Here Comes The Sun", depending on whether I can get the latter taped when it airs on Wednesday. It's Saturday now. Problem is, we're going to be in New York for spring break.  
-  
Chapter 2: Samnesia -

"Okay, contestants," Wink finally declared, "it's Do or Die time. Here's the question. In order, what are Earth's four chronological eras?"  
Sam buzzed in. "That is so easy. I just answered this in science class today."

We heard this one. "She's going to get this one for sure!" Clover said.  
"I know she messed up the others," I added, "but if she blows this one, I'll eat my hat!"  
"Totally," Alex agreed. "Science is her best subject!"

You guessed it! Something happened, and all of a sudden Alex didn't know the answer. "It's, um … okay, the first, um … the first … it's … it's …"  
BZZT! "Margie?"  
"Okay. You got your Precambrian era, you got your Paleozoic era. Okay, there's another era. It's at the tip of my tongue."

Alex and Clover hung their heads. Clover handed me a fork.

10:32 AM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL  
The next day, the girls and I were walking down the hall, discussing what had happened.  
"It was so weird," Sam explained. "Wink would ask a question, and I'd know the answer, but when I buzzed in, I just totally blanked."  
"Don't fret," I assured her. "That happens to me all the time in the classroom."  
"I agree with Leo," Alex added. "Probably just a bad case of stage fright, or in Leo's case, classroom fright."  
(I wanted to sock Alex for that one, but I didn't.)

"Yeah," Clover agreed. "Either that or the buzzer sucked out part of your brain."  
Clover, Alex, and I shared a short laugh. Sam wasn't amused. "Ha ha. Now, if you're through with the fun-at-my-expense-fest, I believe we're due for our mid-morning makeup check."  
We immediately stopped laughing as Sam started walking to the door to the boys' bathroom.

BOYS' BATHROOM?

"Um, is it me," Clover commented, "or is she a little off course?"  
"No, not off course," I topped, "she's off beat."  
"Off beat?" Alex added. "She's off her rocker! Come on, we've got to stop her!"

Clover grabbed Sam's wrist in the nick of time. Sam didn't understand. "Hey! What are you doing?"  
Alex was the one who replied to this one. "How about saving you from total humiliation? This is the boys' bathroom!"  
Sam glanced at the door. "Oopsie. Guess I wasn't paying attention. Ah, forget the makeup check. Let's just get our books and go to class."  
Sam walked off, leaving us somewhat confused.

A little later, Sam was struggling with her locker. "Come on, you dumb locker, open up!"

"What's the matter?" Clover asked. "Did you forget your combination?"  
Sam hardly blinked. "Forget my combination? That's, like, the dumbest question ever, Clovis!"  
"Clovis?"

"Uh, Sam," Alex interrupted, "her name is Clover."  
"That's what I said, Allegra!"

I was the next to speak. "Allegra? Sam, is there a problem?"  
"Of course not, Leroy. Does it look like there's a problem to you?"

"Okay," Clover interjected, "I was just kidding about the brain-sucking thing before."

"Sam," Alex inquired, "are you okay?"  
"I am fine! Gosh, if I could just figure out why there's no smoothie stand at this mall."  
"Probably because this is no mall," I suggested.

"Okay," Clover decided, opening her compowder, "this just went from mildly amusing to 911 call Jerry quick! Serious!"  
BEEP! Some lockers slid aside, and we were sucked into a hole, down a tunnel, and onto the usual cushion. I spent a few seconds looking for my pencil, which I had lost during the ride, and found it lodged in Alex's hair.

"Hello, ladies, and Leo," Jerry greeted us. "What seems to be the problem?"  
Clover answered this one. "Sam's the problem. Ever since she was on that Brain Buster show, she's been acting tray-bizarro."

As she said this last part, Clover made a motion with her fingers that I couldn't decipher. She displayed her index and middle fingers on both hands and moved them down and up. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"Yeah," Alex added. "Forgetting things, and spacing out, and stuff. She practically walked into the boys' bathroom at school!"  
Sam spoke up at this point. "But Clovis, Leroy and Allegra saved me."  
"You see?" I finished. "She's even forgotten our names!"

Jerry walked up to Sam and put his hand on her forehead. "Yes, I'll have WOOHP run some tests right away. In the meantime, you three should check out Brain Drain's ex-contestants; see if anyone else is having … forgetfulness problems like Sam."  
"Brain Buster," I corrected.

"We're on it, Jer," Clover said confidently.  
"Not just yet. There's still the matter of the gadgets."  
Jerry pressed a button and booted up a computer monitor. "Today we have X-ray sunglasses, lipstick lasers- Leo, you'll get a ball-point pen laser instead- mini smoke bombs, and some newly modified nuclear-powered jet boots."

Some WOOHP men put the boots on us. Alex wasn't quite satisfied. "What's-"  
I interrupted Alex. "Uh, Alex, I wouldn't ask that if I were you."  
Alex silenced me with a glare, and continued asking her question. "What's newly modified about them?"

Jerry was happy to answer. "Glad you asked. This." He pressed a button, shutting off the monitor and blasting us off through a trapdoor in the ceiling.  
I had time for just one sentence before our departure, and I made it good: "I told you not to ask that!"

Sam was left behind. Jerry looked at her thoughtfully. She didn't seem to notice anything.  
-  
Yeah, I know, I chose a lousy chapter title, but a title is a title is a title. 


	3. To Think or Not To Think

Leo's Brain Drain

Author's note: I've left this story alone for over a week. I also missed "Here Comes the Sun", but I can do either "Green with N.V." or "Malled" after this one. I'll allow the readers to decide which.

Chapter 3: To Think or Not To Think -

...that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing... oh, sorry.

02:18 PM - DR. CLAYBORNE'S HOUSE  
"This is it," Alex confirmed as we stood at the door, "the home of Prof. Augustus Clayborne."  
Clover checked her compowder. "Says here he has origin to work (or something like that) since he lost on the game show two weeks ago."  
"That's a long time to just sit around and play with your parting gifts," Alex commented.  
"Let's find out if his brain was one of them," I added.

Alex rung the doorbell, and a woman opened the door. "Can I help you?"  
"Yeah," Clover responded, "we're here to see the professor. We're, um, we're his students."  
"Well then, you should know that the professor isn't feeling well."

I didn't even flinch. "We know that, but we must insist. We won't be available later."  
"It'll only take a sec," Alex added. "We just want to say hi."  
"Well, all right, if it'll only take a second." The woman led us into the house.

The professor seemed a little crazy. He was wearing his shirt backwards, and pedaled around the room on a tricycle. Okay, maybe "a little crazy" is an understatement.

"Wow," Clover said, "looks like the prof had a little problem dressing this morning."  
"It's every morning," the woman explained. "Ever since he went on that ridiculous show, he can't remember anything."

The prof showed up in front of us. "Oh, hello, ladies. I'd love to chat, but it's a bit past my bedtime. Nighty-night."  
I blinked. "Bedtime? At two in the afternoon?"  
Not noticing, the prof ran over to a grandfather clock, opened it up, and climbed inside.

"I think you guys should go now," the woman decided. "I appreciate you stopping by." She walked over to try to get the prof out of the clock.

Later, we were leaning against a car in front of the house.  
"Okay, this is so not good," Clover said.  
"For the professor, or for Sam?" Alex asked.  
"For both!" Clover responded. "We better call Jer ASAP." She got out her compowder.

Jerry was analyzing Sam in the WOOHP lab. Sam was hooked up to a machine.  
"Brainwave test #1," Jerry said into a microphone. "Short-term memory visuals." He put the microphone down and pressed a key.  
One by one, images appeared on screen. There was an image of Alex, Clover, and myself, followed by one of Zach, and one of Sam standing beside Wink and Margie, who were holding a big check.

A ring tone interrupted the tests. Jerry got out his wallet and answered Clover's call. "Any news, spies?"  
Clover spoke up. "We just checked on an ex-Brain Buster contestant. In two weeks, he's gone from brainy professor to brainless goof. He tried to go to bed inside a clock."  
Jerry was surprised by this. "Oh, my."

"How's Sam doing?" Alex asked.  
"Oh, well, she's-" Jerry gasped. Sam was absent. "Oh, my!"  
"Jer, what's wrong?" Clover asked.  
"Uh- well- nothing to worry yourself about. But you, Leo, and Alex should investigate the game show set promptly. Ta-ta." The screen went blank.

"Wow," I commented, "even Jason never hangs up on me that quickly." (Jason is a friend of mine.)

03:20 PM - RODEO DRIVE - LOS ANGELES  
Sam walked through the streets as if she was a four-year-old child. She saw Planet Sushi up ahead. "Oh, pretty light." She approached, causing quite a bit of traffic trouble as she crossed the street.

Zach was sitting at the counter nearby. "It's about time, Miss Tutor."  
After sitting down, Sam asked a quick question: "Do I know you?"  
Well, you can imagine how Zach reacted. "Yeah, you know me. I'm Zach. Science class, remember? Oh, I get it, it's a joke."

A waiter gave the pair two hot towels. Sam picked one up and started to eat it. Zach was befuddled. "Uh, maybe we should order. You seem kind of hungry."

BRAIN BUSTER SET  
A tour group walked through the set. "And this is the famous Brain Buster set, where everybody's favorite waitress Margie goes for 10,000,000 in tomorrow's Battle of Geniuses. Now, follow me to the studio's famous cowboy western set."

As the group passed, the three of us ditched it and shed our disguises.  
"Okay," Clover reminded us, "ten minutes until the next tour. Let's get to work."  
"We should start with Wink's podium," Alex added, and we approached.

The podium looked like some kind of computer. "Looks like this podium is more than just a place for Wink's cue cards. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to play Brain Busters."

Clover put on her X-ray sunglasses and scanned the podium. "Okay, that's weird."  
"What's weird?"  
Clover pressed a key, and two pictures showed up on the podium's screen. One had a red rectangle behind it.

Alex was confused. "Pictures of brains? I don't get it." She pressed a key, and something happened with two podiums.

An animation played on the screen. "Red drains into blue," Clover deduced. "Alex, Leo, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
Before I could speak, Alex did. "That somehow those capsules suck out intelligence?"  
"Exactly. Our Sammy's been... brain-drained!"

Alex was mad. "I knew a guy with teeth that white wasn't to be trusted!"  
I was unimpressed. "Please! That has to be the STUPIDEST thing I have ever-"

"Hey, you!" "Hey, what do you three think you're doing?"

Two security guards arrived on stage. Alex gasped. "Looks like the next tour came early. What are we going to do?"  
As the guards rushed toward us, Clover looked at the mikes hanging from the ceiling. "Mic check!"

The three of us climbed on top of the podium and leaped over the guards, swinging from mic to mic. The guards were furious. "Get back here!"  
We made it to a large steel door and managed to shut it tight just in time. The guards slammed into it and got big headaches.  
Clover said it best: "Oh, so sorry!"

PLANET SUSHI  
The waiter brought some sushi to Sam and Zach. Zach was busy with a textbook. "How about we start with plate tectonics?"  
Sam tried to use her chopsticks to grab some sushi, but flung it onto Zach's forehead by accident. She quickly laughed it off.  
Zach was confused. "Sam, are you okay?"

At that moment, Jerry pulled up and rushed in. "Sam, there you are. Marvelous."

Jerry tried to grab Sam, who pulled away. "Hey! Let go, buddy!"  
Zach stood up. "Yeah, let go, buddy! The lady doesn't know you!"

Jerry struggled to explain. "Oh, uh, no no no, you misunderstand. I'm Sam's uncle. Uncle, uh, Buddy. Yes, that's it. Sam called me to pick her up. Ready to go, dear?"  
At that moment, Jerry was hit by another piece of sushi from Sam. You can understand how he felt. "Oh, my. I had so hoped it wouldn't come to this," he thought to himself. He pointed. "Look! A three-headed man on a donkey!"  
Zach looked away, and Jerry grabbed Sam and fled.

A little later, Sam was in the car with Jerry. She was enjoying the breeze from the window a bit too much. A ring tone sounded, and Jerry answered. "Game show report, ladies?"

"Yeah," Alex responded, "Wink's a fink!"  
"A fink and a cheat," I added.

Jerry smirked. "Pardon me?"

Clover explained. "Poor Sam's been brain-drained, Jer. The contestant capsules suck out a player's intelligence and makes them forget answers."  
"Any idea what happens to the drained intelligence?"  
"Security guards came before we could find out. We're going to have to sneak back in."

Alex was the next to speak. "Any news on Sam's tests?"  
"Sam? Oh, uh, Sam's perfect. Just perfect. She even took a little walk this afternoon."  
Jerry hung up on us. I glanced at the girls. "Makes you wonder how those tests REALLY went, doesn't it?"

That's all for now. Stay tuned! 


	4. The Wrapup

Leo's Brain Drain

Author's note: I spent a lot of time looking for the tape that had Brain Drain taped on it. Enough fooling. It's time to resume!  
-  
Chapter 4: The Wrap-up -

BRAIN BUSTER SET  
It was the middle of the night. The three of us slid down cables to reach the floor of the set.  
"Time to open a capsule and see what we can find," Clover decided.  
"Hopefully it'll be Sammy's brain," Alex responded.  
"Or maybe the Prof's," I added, and we dashed over to one capsule hole and tried to open it.

CLICK! The floor began to lower. "Hold on!" Clover exclaimed. "Looks like we're going for a ride."

We landed in the middle of some kind of computer lab.  
"Now this is what I call one nice dressing room," Alex commented.  
"Dressing room?" Clover replied. "More like some kind of bad-guy basement hideout."

We heard screams from a nearby room. Alex recognized the voice as Margie.  
"Sorry, Wink," Clover said before we dashed off to save her, "but there'll be no brain-sucking contestants on my watch."  
We found Margie in a room, covered by a sheet. A man was doing something to her.  
Clover was always ready. "Spies to the rescue!"  
"Do you know how corny that line sounded, Clover?" I said, but she didn't hear me. Clover and Alex karate-kicked the man to the ground.

Margie got up, and she went from scared to confused to furious in seconds. "Hey, what gives? I still have 15 minutes of shatza left. WINK!"  
Clover, Alex, and I shared this word: "Oopsie!"  
I turned to Clover. "Hey, what's shatza?"  
"It's a kind of massage," she replied.  
Wink and two other men marched into the room as the masseur checked his damaged neck.

06:12 PM - SOUND PROOF BOOTH  
Wink locked us in, and then approached us as we peeked out the window. "Welcome to Wink and Margie's Sound-Proof Booth of Doom, ladies."  
"What a lame name," I commented.

Alex was the next to speak up. "Wink and Margie? You mean, she's in on this too?"  
Margie responded in her usual ego-filled manner. "You got it, dollface."  
Clover was furious. "The only dollface around here is you. I mean, hello, blue eye shadow much?"

Wink didn't even bat an eyelid. "You should respect your elders, young lady, especially one with an IQ of 192 and growing!"  
"Yeah," I responded, "growing annoying!"

Alex had a different reaction. "Growing? So THAT's what you're doing with the contestant's brains! Giving them to Margie?"  
"Well," Wink replied, "intelligence is not something you can buy at a store, is it?"  
"Excuse me," Clover's reaction was, "but sucking out innocent people's brains is, like, majorly evil!"

Margie responded to this one. "Wow, evil? Sure. But Winkie and I realized you've got to bend a few rules to become rich and famous."  
"And powerful," Wink added. "After tonight's Battle of the Geniuses, Margie's brainpower will be that of a thousand supercomputers! We'll be unstoppable. First, rulers of all television. Then, rulers of the world!"  
"Plus, we get 10,000,000 smackeroonis!"  
"That's right, sweet stuff!"

Wink and Margie started to kiss. I wanted to barf, and Alex's reaction was approximately the same. "Ew, gross! Like we weren't being tortured enough already!"  
"Ooh, the show beckons!" Wink and Margie started to leave. "Unfortunately, there's not enough oxygen for you to make it until the first commercial! Bye-bye, ladies, and boy!"

As Wink turned off the lights and started to leave, I yelled "STOP!"  
Wink flipped the lights back on. "Make it quick. What is it?"  
"If this is a sound-proof booth, how can we hear each other?"  
Wink gestured at the microphone system inside and outside the booth, then turned the lights back off and left. We were silent. I blushed a little.

BRAIN BUSTER SET  
"Divide and Conquer round, geniuses!" Wink announced. "I give you the division problem, you give me the answer to conquer your opponents! And here we go: What number equals the year the spirally-groove rifle barrel was introduced divided by 10 to the -5th?"

One by one, the contestants' minds went blank. Except, of course, for Margie, who buzzed in. "50,200,000."  
Wink wasn't surprised, but he was ecstatic. "Right again, Margie! How do you do it?"  
Margie just smirked.

SOUND PROOF BOOTH  
Clover placed her compowder and Alex's compowder on the ground. "Get ready to tuck and roll!"  
Alex handed over her lipstick laser, which Clover shot at the mirrors at just the right angle, trapping the intense beam of light between them. Clover then aimed the mirrors at the door, burning a big hole in it.  
"Awesome!" Alex exclaimed, looking at the hole. "How did you-"  
"Old racquetball trick shot," Clover interrupted. "We'll play sometime. Now let's get out of here!"

BRAIN BUSTER SET  
Wink carried on as usual. "Okay, players. The category is weird science. Chromosomes are to thermions as pizza is to-"

"Sorry, Wink," Alex interrupted, "you've been pre-empted!"

The three of us lobbed our smoke bombs, covering the area in smoke. "Winkie," Margie screamed, "do something!"  
"Oh boy," I muttered, "if she calls him 'Winkie' one more time, I'm going to throw up!"

Frustrated, Wink held up his mic and shot a laser from it, narrowly missing Alex. He fired again, and Clover dodged.  
"Man, we should ask Jer to buy us a couple of those mikes," Clover suggested.  
"Time to take Wink off the air," Alex said, then ran after Wink as he fled. I rolled my eyes at this lame line as I followed.

Wink and Margie had disappeared. "We've got to stop them! Margie's got all of Sam's intelligence locked up inside that giant beehive head of hers!"  
We saw Wink and Margie bolt for the exit, and followed. They hopped into a stage trolley to try to get away.  
Of course, there was another trolley right nearby. Clover, Alex, and I boarded it. "Ladies, start your engines!" Clover cheered as we took off.

07:03 PM - WESTERN MOVIE SET  
Two cowboys stood off against each other. The scene's impact was rather ruined, however, when two trollies sped by. "They're getting away," Clover yelled. "Give me a blast from your jet boots!"

Alex stuck her heel outside the back of the trolley and started it up, giving us more of a boost than we could've used. We were both flung from the trolley, and landed flat on the ground.  
"Too much afterburner," Alex concluded.  
"Well then, use less next time," I suggested.

We gasped as a plane headed straight for us, and ducked it. Wink and Margie were piloting it.  
"Let's ride, partner," Clover decided, spotting some horses tied up nearby. Clover took a black horse, and Alex took a brown one. I didn't know how to ride a horse, so I rode behind Clover.

"It's time to rope 'em and ride 'em," Clover followed up. The girls both took lassos that happened to be on the horses and hooked the plane's wing. I held on to Clover's rope, keeping my pencil in my pocket.  
"Sorry, sis, we've gotta cut you loose," Margie decided, pulling out an axe and using it to chop Alex's rope. Clover caught Alex just in time.

Wink was unfazed. "So, you girls- and boy- want to hang around. All righty then. Enjoy the ride!"  
I noticed by now that in the past minute, we'd gone from the West to a moon base to a jungle. "Wow," I commented, "this is the kind of chase that can only be pulled off at a movie set!"  
"Never mind that, Leo," Clover responded, "this is definitely not my idea of a fun studio tour!"  
"We have to let go and jet-boot," Alex suggested.  
Clover didn't like this idea. "If we do that, Wink gets away with Sammy's brainpower!"  
I had to break it up. "That may be so, but we don't have a choice. Hit it, Alex!"

Alex jet-booted up to the plane's wing and used the afterburner to scorch the exterior until it crashed in a swamp. We ended up jet-booting to remain in the air. "Bingo," Alex cheered, "one bad guy going down!"  
We jetted down to see the wreck. "Thanks for playing, Wink and Margie," Clover joked. "Unfortunately, you're our grand prize LOSERS!"  
"Aw," I muttered, "I wanted to say that."

BRAIN BUSTER SET  
Some WOOHP agents strapped Sam into the champion's capsule and Margie into another capsule. Jerry was busy typing at Wink's podium.  
Clover was a little worried. "You sure this'll work, Jer?"  
"Oh, yes," Jerry responded. "With Sam and Margie switching capsules, Margie will be the brain-drained contestant this time."

Jerry pressed one last button, and red drained into blue. We approached Sam.  
"Hello, Sam?"  
"Are you there?"  
"Speak to us, Sammy!"  
The drain was complete. Sam spoke up after a pause. "Clover? Alex? Leo? What's going on?"

Clover was ecstatic. "She said Clover!"  
Alex hugged Sam. "Yay! Our best friend's back!"  
I had to get a word in. "Now that's the Sam I know!"

Jerry then approached Margie, who wasn't feeling too well. "Whoa … my heads … I got a lights out …"  
"You'll have plenty of time to rest in prison. But there are some ex-contestants we must visit first."  
The WOOHP men carried Margie away.

09:03 AM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL  
As the four of us walked down the hall, Mandy stopped and gasped upon seeing Zach. She approached him.  
"Tutor damage control time," Clover explained.

"Um, hi, Zach," Sam said. "You know, about the other day at the sushi bar …"  
"Oh, forget, it's history," Zach responded. "Besides, I found another tutor."  
Sam blinked. "Another tutor?"

And guess who that tutor was. "That's right, Sammy-kins. Zach needs a study-buddy with half a brain, someone who knows the difference between a hand towel and a hand roll. B-bye!"  
As Mandy left, she hesitated as she passed by me. "Can I borrow that pencil? I forgot mine today."  
"I can't lend you my pencil, but here's a pen," I replied, handing her a ball-point pen.

"Half a brain is right," Alex commented once Mandy was out of sight. "Mandy's about as sharp as a week-old nail file!"  
"It's okay," Sam explained, "she can have him. I mean, really, who wants to go out with a guy who would fall for Jerry's lame 'Look! A three-headed man on a donkey!' trick?"

Jerry's voice came from Sam's compowder. "I heard that, ladies!" He led the rest of us in a short bout of laughter.

When the laughter died down, Alex asked me a question. "Say, Leo, exactly what did you give Mandy? Was it what I think you gave her?"  
"You'll find out next period," I responded.

NEXT PERIOD  
Mandy and Zach sat next to each other at a desk. "Okay," Mandy explained, "the trick to good knowledge is good note-taking. Let me show you a few shortcuts."  
Leaving those words in the air, Mandy got out a piece of paper and started using the ball-point pen to write … and lasered a hole clear through the desk.  
The teacher was furious at Mandy, who was furious at me. Luckily, I wasn't in the room at the moment, but anyone within fourteen yards of the classroom would've heard Mandy's scream.  
"LEO!"  
-  
THE END

Zooney World? Green with N.V.? Malled? Mummy? Queen for a Day? It's your call! Which one I do next is up to you, the readers! 


End file.
